I Tamed the Slave Male Lead Chapter 17

“Ugh! Go away, go away!”

Flapflapflap.

Strangely enough, the bats kept swooping at Regita, so she had already been struggling alone for over half an hour, making a terrible racket.

Thanks to that, we were able to search for the book much more leisurely.

“Uwaaah… I’m scared. Brother, please save me. I’m sorry… sob.”

Listening to her exhausted sniffling, we calmly continued our search.

Yusiliph examined the books on the shelf in question one by one, starting from the upper shelves, while I searched from the bottom up.

Then, when only a few books in the very middle of the shelf remained, I began to grow anxious, wondering if I had been wrong after all.

“Huh?”

Finally, the moment my eyes swept over the cover of one of the only three books left, a thrilling excitement surged through me.

<101 Ways to Become a Swordmaster — Written by Angelton Silly>

The title felt oddly suspicious for some reason, but after opening it and looking inside, I became certain that this was indeed the right book.

Overjoyed, I shoved the book in front of Yusiliph’s face and whispered triumphantly.

“Look. This is it, right? Written by Angelton Silly. See? I was right!”

Yusiliph glanced at me, my eyes shining despite being covered in dust, then took the book and slowly began turning through the pages.

The tips of his fingers trembled slightly as he turned to the third page.

His expression looked indifferent at first glance, but I thought I understood him to some extent by now.

He was trying incredibly hard to hide how excited he was.

“Looks… I like it.”

Even his voice had gone hoarse, so I supposed he must have been quite happy.

Well, Silly’s swordsmanship manual was probably a treasure that anyone who had learned swordsmanship on this continent dreamed of possessing.

I puffed out my chest proudly and said,

“See? I’ve already kept one of the promises I made to you.”

Hehe. With this, I could consider some portion of the original Arabella’s karma for what she had done to the male lead to have been repaid…

However, before I knew it, I was left standing there all alone, talking to myself.

At some point, Yusiliph had already moved beneath the window where moonlight streamed in and was completely absorbed in reading the swordsmanship manual, his nose practically buried in the book.

My voice probably wasn’t even reaching his ears.

I watched him fondly for a moment before going over to his side, crouching down, and resting my face on my knees.

We had achieved today’s goal, after all, so I figured it was okay to rest for a while.

The moment I relaxed, the fatigue I had been desperately ignoring came rushing over me.

 

***

 

Doze.

Yusiliph suddenly raised his head at the presence he sensed beside him.

When he looked to the side, he saw Arabella dozing off restlessly with a pale face.

Every time her head bobbed downward, her black hair spilled over her round ears, gradually covering her small face.

‘Don’t tell me she passed out again?’

He watched her with a displeased expression before brushing away the hair covering her face and placing a finger beneath her nose.

He felt her faint breath brush against his fingertip before dissipating.

The healthy color that had returned to her face just a few hours ago had already disappeared, and a feverish flush was spreading across her pale features.

‘Did she get sick again just from overexerting herself for a little while? What the hell is wrong with this woman? She’s absurdly frail even for a noble.’

Shaking his head, Yusiliph withdrew his attention from her and began reading the swordsmanship manual again.

With every sentence he read, a shiver ran down his back.

To think teachings like this existed in the world.

If he could master these teachings and truly make them his own, perhaps becoming a Swordmaster really wouldn’t be a dream after all.

As he pressed down his pounding heart, something suddenly dropped onto his shoulder with a soft thump.

Wheeze.

The woman, whose cheeks had grown flushed with fever, had fallen asleep with her head resting on his shoulder, completely unaware of the world around her.

“……”

Yusiliph was about to push her head away with his finger without hesitation when he suddenly noticed how hot her forehead felt against his fingertip.

He stopped.

Clicking his tongue, he eventually began turning the pages without changing his position.

She had helped him obtain a swordsmanship manual capable of changing his entire life.

Lending her his shoulder for a little while was hardly anything.

Rustle.

As he turned another page, the flapping of the bats’ wings and Regita’s screams rang through the archives.

The woman leaning against his shoulder stirred and frowned.

He tried to ignore it and continue reading the manual, but for some reason, he couldn’t concentrate.

In the end, with a displeased look on his face, he bit his lip and whistled silently.

A sound wave inaudible to human ears spread through the air like ripples, and the noisy flapping of the bats’ wings abruptly stopped.

Soon, Regita’s screams also turned into sniffles, and the surroundings became considerably quieter.

The whistle he had learned from his half-elf father, Sheryen, was a sort of communication tool that allowed him to easily convey either a threat or a desire for friendship to animals that heard sounds differently from humans.

If he hadn’t happened to see the swarm of bats clinging to a corner of the ceiling when they first slipped into the archives, he never would have thought of using them at that critical moment when they were on the verge of being discovered by Sota.

‘I’ve been strangely lucky these past few days.’

He looked down at the swordsmanship manual in his hands and thought.

Could his life, which had been marked by misfortune at every turn, perhaps finally be entering a new phase?

‘Am I getting too complacent, thinking such foolish thoughts?’

He scoffed at himself and carefully turned the page.

In the peaceful silence of the now-quiet archives, the woman’s breathing tickling his ear was, fortunately, not particularly bothersome.

 

***

 

Whoosh—

Thud.

Crash.

The moment Yusiliph swung his sword, the trunk of the tall fir tree standing before him was sliced clean through in an instant.

Sweat poured down his forehead like rain as he glared at the fallen fir.

In his mind, the contents of the manual he had memorized at the Imperial Library a week ago continued to replay over and over.

Written in a tone reminiscent of a master instructing his disciple, the teachings in the manual had guided his breathing and movements ever since that day.

As a result, now that a week had passed, he had reached the point where he could coat his sword in sword aura and swing it without destroying the blade.

It was an astonishing achievement at a speed that would leave anyone in the world dumbfounded if they knew about it.

Yet he could not possibly be satisfied with this much.

The image of Crown Prince Sota unleashing a terrifying level of sword aura in the direction where he had been hiding that night was deeply etched into his mind.

‘This isn’t enough. I need to become stronger. I have to master the manual perfectly and make its teachings my own.’

That day, he had understood just by looking at the Crown Prince.

Just how powerful a swordsman he was.

If he confronted him with his current level of skill, his body would probably be split in two by Sota’s sword before even a few dozen seconds had passed.

Crown Prince Sota possessed such extraordinary talent that he was said to be the reincarnation of Emperor Kalita, the founder of the Empire.

On top of that, he had received the finest education on the continent and attained the rank of Swordmaster at the mere age of twenty-five.

An overwhelming gap that had been determined from birth.

Could he really catch up to that?

Click.

Just as Yusiliph angrily sheathed his sword, an exaggerated cheer rang out from beside him.

“Waaah~ Amazing, Yusiliph! You’re seriously the best! That was so cool! Aren’t you really a genius? How can you control sword aura to this extent after only a week? Wow, this is insane. Absolutely insane.”

Clap clap clap clap.

The woman sitting innocently atop the tree trunk he had cut down yesterday continued to applaud enthusiastically, showering him with admiration.

“I seriously can’t believe it. Is it even possible to improve this quickly? I think this should be reported as the continent’s new Eighth Wonder of the World. Is there any way to contact the sages? I want to report this.”

“…Enough already. Are you making fun of me?”

Unable to hold it in any longer, Yusiliph finally snapped at her.

Arabella hunched her shoulders and pouted.

“Making fun of you? I’m genuinely amazed.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Your father was a Swordmaster. You grew up watching a father like that, and you think this little bit is impressive?”

“Well, it’s true that my father was a Swordmaster, but I only saw his face maybe once a year. I only ever heard about how skilled he was at swordsmanship from other people, so this is actually the first time I’ve seen something like this right in front of me.”

Yusiliph was rendered speechless by her nonchalant reply.

In fact, after spending the past few days at the Maiona estate, he had also seen and sensed what her position within the family was like to some extent.

She was, quite literally, an outcast.

Her uncle disliked her so much that he hardly seemed like a real member of her family, and he was constantly looking for an opportunity to tear into her.

The Countess was apparently in the countryside tending to the son who would inherit the family, but it was strangely ironic that Arabella, who looked like the one who actually needed to recover, had been left alone and neglected.

Perhaps it would have been better if she had been the haughty, obnoxious upper-class woman he had assumed her to be at first.

But after seeing and experiencing firsthand that she was an outcast, a woman so frail that she would collapse at the slightest thing, even hating and keeping his guard up against her freely had become difficult.

“The gladiatorial match finals are tomorrow at last. You’re confident, right, Yusiliph?”

Was it already tomorrow?

Yusiliph thought with his usual impassive expression.

Since tomorrow’s match was being held to commemorate the Emperor’s birthday, Arabella believed there could be serious consequences if he, as one of the finalists, failed to appear.

So he intended to participate for the time being, but he had little interest in whether he won or not.

His only goal was to test the results of his swordsmanship training in an actual match.

Whether she knew what he was thinking or not, Arabella cautiously edged closer to him.

It was almost strange how she kept approaching him and trying to become closer despite never receiving a kind word from him.

Why does this woman act like this toward me? Why does she look at me with such trusting eyes, constantly praising and encouraging me as though I were destined to become the strongest warrior in the world?

I’m nothing but a slave, after all.

‘…She must be trying to use my abilities.’

She already knew that his bodily fluids possessed regenerative powers.

She must have known about it from the beginning and bought him from the slave market for that very reason.

She probably just intended to use him as a cost-effective source of treatment.

‘As if I’m going to bleed myself dry to heal you again. Not a chance.’

He vowed never to use his abilities for her again and snorted.

“If I win the finals, will you get something out of it? I suppose you want to gain a reputation as the owner of a powerful slave, just like the princess.”

But, as always, Arabella replied brightly.

“Not particularly. But there is something I definitely want to do with you once the match is over.”

She smiled sweetly as she said it.

Under the sunlight, her smiling face looked so terribly pale that it seemed as though she might evaporate into the air and disappear at any moment.

He quickly looked away from her figure, which resembled a heat haze or a mirage.

Because he had sensed something unfamiliar within his body.

Deep inside his abdomen, there was a space he could feel whenever he concentrated his mind on controlling his sword aura.

The place known as the dantian.

He didn’t know whether it was a coincidence, but ever since the day he had fed his blood to the unconscious Arabella to save her, he would occasionally feel a strange warmth in his dantian.